


Red Ledgers

by FandomDivergentChildofAkyls



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, Heavy Angst, Multi, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark Friendship, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, POV Bucky Barnes, Past Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Past Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Steve Rogers didn't go back in time, The Blip happened and it fucking hurts, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:15:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29307120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomDivergentChildofAkyls/pseuds/FandomDivergentChildofAkyls
Summary: It should've been them. Not Tony and Natasha. Tony and Natasha still should've been here. Alive and well. Clint should've been the one to fall. Steve should've been the one to snap his fingers.Or, after the events of Endgame, Bucky shows up at Tony and Natasha's funeral and offers his condolences to Clint and Steve.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	Red Ledgers

It should've been them. Not Tony and Natasha. Tony and Natasha still should've been here. Alive and well. Clint should've been the one to fall. Steve should've been the one to snap his fingers. The two of them could feel Wanda's hands brushing over theirs, as a way to soothe them. Clint and Steve could only watch as Pepper loomed over Tony and Natasha's caskets, sobbing her eyes out. 

Clint and Steve hadn't slept for days. It showed on their eyes, the dark circles that were so pronounced that nobody had the heart to tell them to sleep. 

They had saved the world. They killed Thanos and made sure that time travel would never happen again. After Steve put the stones and Minjior back in their proper places, Steve and Clint, along with Bucky- had destroyed the time machine. There was no need for time travel anymore. 

"Stevie." A raspy voice said. Steve and Clint turned to see James Buchanan Barnes, dressed in normal, all black clothing. 

Bucky hadn't almost wanted to come. Not because he didn't care, but that he didn't feel welcome. He had murdered Tony's parents. Even though the world knew him as Bucky Barnes and not the Winter Soldier anymore, he still carried the guilt. There would always be innocent blood on Bucky's hands. Blood that he created in the seventy years as the Winter Soldier under Hydra's control.

But Natalia- Natalia had been a good part of his life. He remembered the Red Room days. He had trained all the girls in the Red Room as Winter, but Natalia had stood out to him. Something about Natalia Romanov made his humanity come back.

But then Hydra had taken that away from him too. Now it was just jagged pieces inside him, unable to connect again.

“Buck,” Steve murmured quietly at the sight of his childhood friend, “you came.” 

“I almost didn’t,” Bucky replied with a tightened jaw, looking at the two caskets. He had yet to pay his respects.

“Why not?” Steve asked roughly. 

“Because I didn’t think they would want me to come.” 

“They would’ve.”

Bucky and Steve looked over at Clint. The blonde-haired, deaf Avengers had clicked on his hearing aids. It had been a gift from Tony after they had saved New York from Loki all those years ago. Stark tech wasn’t as quite as advanced as Wakandan tech, but Clint hadn’t wanted to part with Tony’s hearing aids. Too many fond memories. 

“Tasha spoke a lot about you, Yasha. Whenever we were on missions together when SHIELD was still alive… she’d talk about the man who trained her. Made her who she was. Without you, I would’ve never met her. Never would’ve… never would’ve realized there was so much I could fight for.” Clint spoke the last part sadly. Before joining SHIELD, Clint had been a vigilante. He had gone as Ronin back in the day before Fury had found him. He had been in Chicago at the time. Fury had found him and offered him to join SHIELD, or go to jail. Obviously, he chose the latter. Clint had no one. Barney was gone, doing god knows what. Clint had bounced around with other members of SHIELD until Fury had given him the task to take out the Black Widow.

And that was when everything had changed. He saw the red-haired woman and the world had stopped for a moment. Instead of killing her, he offered a different solution. Fury had saved him once. Maybe he could do it for her, too. Not everyone could be saved, but maybe she could be. 

A soft little whimper broke Clint out of his thoughts. Lucky licked his hand, a soft whimper escaping his lips. He had been looking for his mother. Where was his mom? Clint rubbed his head, trying to calm down the furry animal. 

“I’m sorry boy. Mommy’s not coming back.” Clint’s voice broke. Lucky only whimpered again. Steve gently patted Lucky’s head too. Lucky nudged his head into Steve’s hand, sniffing at the supersoldier. 

Steve knew saving the world provided risks. People could die and not come back. He knew how it felt when Bucky had fallen off the train. He had been guilty for so long. When Hydra had overtaken SHIELD and revealed themselves to the world and Steve had gotten his longtime friend back, Tony had been there for him to carry the burden. The former Avenger had been the first person who Steve had been brought out of the ice by SHIELD to truly understand him. Sure, Tony didn’t understand how it felt to be frozen for seventy years, but Tony held the same haunted look in Steve’s eyes. The late nights of the two of them when Steve used to be Tony’s bodyguard, the late nights in Tony’s workshop… Steve wanted those moments back. 

Now he would never get them back. He wouldn’t be able to ever hear Tony tinkering in their shared penthouse in his lab. He wouldn’t be able to ever hear Tony’s laugh, see his smile, or hear his morning voice in the morning before the two of them went to the Compound. He wouldn’t ever be able to kiss Tony, ever again. 

“Mister Steve?” 

The three looked to see Peter Parker, dressed in a black dress shirt and slacks with black shoes. His eyes were still rimmed red. Steve knew how close Peter had gotten to Tony during his internship at Stark Industries. Not to mention, Tony helped Peter craft his Spider-Man suit. In a way, Peter Parker was the son Tony never had. 

“You doin’ alright, Peter?” Steve asked softly. Peter only sniffed and broke down in Steve’s arms again. The supersoldier stroked the younger boy’s hair, whispering soothing words in his ear. Lucky even licked Peter’s hand in comfort.

The dog had gone around to all the mourners, softly barking and licking hands in comfort. Clint and Natasha had rescued the dog, along with a black cat named Liho during a mission. The two pets followed them back to New York and were adopted into their little family. Last Clint had seen Liho, she had been with Sam. Peter sniffed again. 

“I miss him,” the teenaged boy whispered. Steve looked at him, his own tears beginning to prick at his eyes again. 

“I know buddy, I know. I miss him too.” Steve choked out. Clint rubbed Peter’s shoulder in comfort. Bucky kept an eye towards the two caskets, watching as they were lowered into the ground. 

The former assassin had gotten the chance to apologize to the redheaded and dark-haired Avengers. Before he voluntarily went back under. Before he got the trigger words washed away from him, like the sea washing away at the sand. Before Thanos had shown up and snapped his fingers, taking away half of humanity. 

Bucky apologized to Natasha, telling her that he was sorry he couldn’t save her from the Red Room. That he was thankful that Clint had shown her a new life, and that Clint was able to be there for her when he hadn’t been. The two former Russian spies embraced, reunited at last. 

And then he had apologized to Tony. For murdering his parents as Winter. But Steve had already told Tony that Hydra had killed his parents. Like Tony, Steve hadn’t known that it was actually Bucky, only knowing that Hydra had done it. When Bucky came back from Wakanda with his new Vibriaumn arm, Tony was relieved. No longer did he see the arm that murdered his parents. When Bucky had told Steve and Tony that he had done the deed, Tony had gotten nightmares, seeing the silver arm with the red star over and over again. Only when did Tony speak with Bucky one on one did he find some closure. Howard Stark had never been a great father in many cases, but at least Tony could find some closure with his old man and his mom.

Life had been good. The Avengers had been doing their saving the world bullshit. Then Thanos happened. Five years went by, and after time traveling for a bit, they killed Thanos, but at the cost of the two most valuable members of their team. 

The three men turned to see the caskets lowered in the ground. Slowly, the congregation made their way with flowers to throw down. Only when the dirt was piled up and people began to leave did Clint and Steve look at their lover’s graves. 

Natasha had told Clint about her red ledger. Tony had told Steve about all the horrible things he had done before he had met Steve. The former assassin and the playboy genius bonded over their pasts. It was why they had become Avengers, to make the world a better place. To make the world better than they had wrecked upon it. It was their way of finding redemption within themselves. 

The two blonde Avengers looked out. Clint looked at Steve. Blue met blue. 

“You think they’re happy up there? With their ledgers wiped clean?” Clint asked quietly. Steve looked at him. 

“I think so, Clint. I think so.” 

“So… how do you feel about burgers?”

“The usual joint?’ 

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go. It’ll be just the Avengers. Sound good Legolas?” 

“Sounds great, Cap.”


End file.
